Emsergency shipeoff for stham lines and the like



J. K. WOOD Aug. 3, 1943.

EMERGENCY SHUTOFF FOR STEAM LINES AND THE LIKE Filed June 21, 1941 wW 52 $1 w mw m 7 2 2 1 WW,

8 H 2 .m 31 d M Z 1M Patented Aug. 3, 1943 7 Y n BA orgies remnants!sumoFF non sir mm Lmnsi ANDKTHE LIKE: 1 I

Qsebh Kfla Wood; N w Y rk. it-iassi or to.

General Spring Corporation acorgorat on of New York 21, ri 1;Nw iawl 1;Glai r r1. (c1. lat- 139 This invention relatesrtdm ans for. ontroll nthev flow. oiedangerousifluids fromlin s, onn cted: to reservoirs at:such fluids; fu xamin ea from. steam lines comieeted icsteamboilersperated; at. substantial: pressures, and articula l tomeansfor.automaticailnshutti eo t he s am or the like from, a line. thate n damaaedb shock 1 In, the operation. or nava vesse s, nder. wcondition ne,-.of.-the p n irm an ers o he I ews oistean i drivenznavaNessds s the dan er from scald ng: due. t Jgeakage of; steam lines. Suchbreakage is ,more freguerrtlygcausedby the; dynamic. force-orshoa s. miued .by. the ploe i n a i e. ntox edo. sainst he side-W 9 om of thesnipit an by a ire thu mnt e:

steam line, itself. i'zthe: steam fiqw,to.,a.- roke eam in e otnr mnt ythu iiet he he e l hew-ate: onten of; t e by reas n o he. duce r s re esius rom he. r sh; wi l sh nto. tea andr i edu ih ir team: the compartmentor; region in which; the break;

occurs, with serious consegg encestgapywcrew e e s ho a qup a mn fllifim; ea h ea s- A. genera obieqtoi t e-prese t i yeni en s o.

prov de. eeans iowsito eehitel ri shutbiesr it he amr the auseroi syfiiid.. xezniei h v en-l e o r e r i. EQh:- l .d a a. a; stea l ha haeensmiestee of h l e...

i e. he te m/lines i ieam neretesiw el.

ss ls a n the operatin e.-- ss s,noimal y su i tedtos minic or e.

risin m h rms fma maeia he ee e i elf. h Qpemtion; t newer p ant o h e lt e oundineoh yy ees et teud: Since" the s f ty a fie t yenee oihe: tfliihb t may, d p nd-upon tssmane i r b l ty endn t t response oscoatr-ols; t:. s-'.ieii 9rtae tany means for i t net e ummatiHh tfi thet m flow to. as eemliae heii 9ip mtea the e se. Qidis urba isieeihiehhei t ime is desi uedtq n t stei ar.

To insure operation only when requiredgth e present..inventien.. pntempa s the p y ent of an inertia member so connected to the steam main, forthe protection of which it is intended, that it will partake of theordinary movements of the main brought about by the dynamic forces towhich it is ordinarily subjected but when the main is subjected to agreater than ordinary dyprfiimels. e s; of. considerable intensity; for;whieh-prpyision -is made i th ir; 0i iti a-1 ushf iwesbs gw h ei m- 9.orce. or. exanmlefrve; t mes gravi y. it; that is the maximumaccelerating; force winch e steam ine. .is desi ned w thstand n; th d eci oncerned) onmo er hewcisht i ithen; o e elat r ixto thest amma n toless an elecric i cuit. oni ol in thezonesation o the 51115: off valve rec u e-0i heusual r u stan ially nstaneous ac on. i; mamie; OIPes; aainst ch he. ev ee i h y eeentm ention; s in: ded to afio d; Pr tection;usz r ss he. exp osion ia ineo cr sio t s esi able hat he: mpl ed. lesitia ircu t; mem; losed or. l i enst mi ime. to. t e; opera on.

* i ain n el .sw sh o ern n heoperati e of th er peratins meheeil m nimpor an feature of the invention, therefore is means, th r ec a tekesiiiq h r: ns ri at Ulii nt DAIW E it c osed ead o oi he rc r u ht bm th operat on. ner a. mb r,

other Wieets and; mpor n t es f... he tio il ppea irom he a owi e escriko nd; a m. whe ns e d.- i connectioni h t e om e i x ra n ,in hicprotection, serves as a guide, for the. inertia mem her to.Theinertiaimemher I0,'a s:herein shown, is a. cylindrical block'ot metalor. other suitable: material of a andweight suitable for the purposes oithe present invention.

' he n r ia; me er '05 s. Pre era ly. m 'an n rmed ate osi sn in uide oualbymea s was onnect-i to means m r ovement; with th nde ordinaryconditions The illustrative means for suspending the inertia member !0at an intermediate point in its guide housing 2 comprise shear pins i2located in holes I4 drilled through the side walls of the guide housing2 at spacings about the axis thereof and entering isapplied to thehousin'g'2 to' cause themember' the I guide housing 2. 7 These catches38 are pressed into recessesii in the housing when the inertia member itis in the position shown in Figure 1, but spring out over the top of themember when it moves downward in the guide housing 2, thus looking itagainst movement p d v 1 From the foregoing description, the operationof the device will readilylbe understood, Assume that the guide housing2 is connected to a steam Y main or other steamline of a naval Vesseland bring about a sufilcient relative movementof the g, 7

member IE and the guide housing 2 to shear on that the dimension's'fandresistance to shearing of the pins l2 have been so determined with retheshear pins 42. VAdvantage is taken of the" movement thus produced when'a'dynamic' force above a predetermined amount is applied to the 7,

guide housing 2 to bring about the actuation of the danger preventingmeans such, for'example, as an'electrically operated shut-off valvebetween a steam generating boiler and the steam line upon-whichtheapparatus of the present inventiOn-is mounted i, M

As herein shown-the movable member l 6 of an electric switch ha'vingcontact: members" [8' and 26 is so located beneath the inertia member N]that when said'membert ii-moves toward the base 6 of the guide housing 2it will'cause the'swi'tch member it to bring its'contact 18 intoengagement with the contact 23 c'arri'e'dby the base 5.The'mo-vablemember t5 of the switch is insulated asshown at-22fr'ern'the b'ase'fi and is connected to one side of an 'ele'ctr'iccircuit which enters the housing 2 through-the insulated opening 25.'The'other side 2801? theelectric circuit is grounded upon the guidehousing 2 with which the contact 2i"! of the switch is alsoingrounded 7connection. a

7 Movement of 't'he inertiamernber l9 downward iri'the housing'i'whensumcient dynamic force ifi to shearofi the shear pins l2, thuscauses-the contact 53 to-engage-the contact 2!] and "close the electriccircuit 25, 28 throughthe 'solenoid 'coil 3G to eiiect the closing of asecond switch-32 in a motorfoperating circuit t iby' which a motor 35 isactuated to operate any suitable valve- As hereinabove suggested, theapparatus of the 'present'invention is particularly useful in closingshut-off valves to steam lines of naval vessels which mayhavebeerijinjurediby the'shock of an explosion, such as that of atorpedoor aminen The action of dynamic' forces such as'these is sonearly instantaneous that it is important that provision be madefforinsuring the maintenance of a'circuit, which has been closed as a resultof such action,-for a sumcient length of timeto insure the 'actuatiohofthe main valve closing mechanism. This may-teamed in various ways as,for example, by the employment of an ordinarytiltable 'mercury tubeswitch which wo'ulcl'remain' in its switch-closing position when tippedthereinto or; as in thecase of the illustrated circuit-closingi means;locking means may be provided for locking the inertia member if]- in itsswitch-closing position, In theillustrative embodiment ot the invention,simple spring catches 33 are provided, there beingfour of these shownasspaced 96 apart about the inside of said securing, means beingyieldable toga force a I encountered'when said dynamic limit is passed,whereby 'said'inertiamember is movedby suchforce to operate saidswitch'and thereby to 'actuspect to the weight of the inertia member ii!that said inertia member will follow the .movements of theguidelhousingEast said housing in turn follows the movements of the steam main, orother steam'line, to which it is attached, in

'the ordinary operation of the navel vessel, in-

cluding such movements asiare brought about by the dynamicforces-produced by the firing oi the guns of the vessel, by the impactsof heavygseas against the sides'of the vessel; etc If, new, the

vessel should strilrea-rnine :or should be hit by a torpedo, so that thesteam main or other steam line would be subjected tofthe" action of 1 a}7 dynamic force ofgreaterintensity than that 'for which the shear pinsi2 have been calibrated, the resistance of the inertia member lll tomove ment' with the guide housing 2 would cause theshear'pins 2 toshearoiithus bringing the con tact'member Zii into engagement with thecon tact member ldby-the'relative movementof-theinertia member to andthe guide housing 2,-thereby closing the circuit 24,28 through thesolenoid 38 and in turn'closing the switch 32 in theeir-= cuit 34 thatoperates the motor 3E; The springing of the spring catches 38into'pos'ition above the inertia memberill would 'then prevent there-opening of the switch !8, 29 and thus insure maintenanceof thecircuit 24, '23 for a sumcient time to operate the switch 32. T e What Iclaim as new is: 1 V An automatically protected distributing syste,

for dangerousfluids which comprises, incom- 'binatio'n with a reservoirof dangerous fluid and a'distribution pipe line extendedso as to besubject'to shock of such forceas' maycauseb'reakage of the line, aninertia' rnember, a guide forsaid- 7 member so mounted-upon the pipelinefor protection of which sai d 'device is intended as to partake of thesame'movements as the part of said pipe-line which is subject todestructive shock, an -elctrica1ly"operated shut-off adapted" toco-ntiolthe. admission ofthe dangerous fluid to said pipe line and'positioned ata point remote from the-inertia 'membenj'an actuating vcircuitfor saidshut-01f includin'g'a switch arranged to be operated b'y movement ofsaid inertia member in'its'guide, and means for securing said inertiammber to said, guide so that said 'memberalso partakespf the same:movements 'as sai'd pipeline-up toa predeterminedjldynamic limit, but

ate said shut-off.

